Growth as a Poet

Alma Wolf
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
-Robert Frost
This year at Animas High School, I have acted as a Russian representative, learned about
snow and its many forms, written and produced a documentary, learned how to play six different
card games, and made memories and mistakes that will shape the rest of my high school career.
Throughout it all, my daily humanities class has been organized and challenging, yet genuine and
grounded. It has been a class that I always look forward to. The projects that we have delved into
have been intriguing, and have opened my eyes to a multitude of topics. I feel that I have truly
gained new perspectives. Our final project of the year is the poetry project. I admit that I went
into this project with a fixed mindset; I was not looking forward to writing poetry and I believed
that I would not learn anything new. As we learned about poetic devices and forms of poetry, I
found that there were plenty of new topics and skills that I had not heard of. While I did have
some background knowledge of poetic devices and forms, it was good to refresh my memory and
re-learn topics that I had not fully grasped. When it came time to write my own poem, I struggled
with how to put my ideas into words. I was hung up on the idea that my poem had to be grand
and unique, yet I could not think of a way to make it stand out. In the first draft of my poem, I
attempted to write a free-verse poem about kindness. When I was finished, I was simply
unsatisfied with the way it turned out. In this poem, I used poetic devices but only sparingly. The
perspective written into this poem was boring, sort of weak and underdeveloped. It seemed low
quality, like I had not put much thought into it. The strongest stanza of my first draft was, When
someone is kind, truly kind / There is a spark, a firework over a dark landscape / A lively flower
blooming under grey skies / Kindness brings effervescence to dull days. While this stanza does
discuss my topic, I dont think it is truly meaningful because it feels like it is trying too hard.
Nonetheless, I continued to refine and edit my poem, yet it was simply not grand or
extraordinarily unique. The night before the second draft of the poem was due, I had an idea. I
began writing a new poem, this one using an extended metaphor. Once again it was about
kindness, yet I decided to compare kindness to currency and different aspects of money. This was
a more unique idea, one that I had thought of and was interested in exploring. The perspective in
this poem is hopeful and curious; overall more developed and interesting than my first draft. My
favorite stanza of my final draft is, And the simple act of making another person happy /
Gratitude in their eyes / That feeling of warmth that spreads from your chest / A shared smile /
Its more valuable than Bill Gates bank account. I think that this stanza communicates feeling,
and the perspective clearly places value in kindness. Through the progression of my drafts, I
think the perspective of my poem has become more upbeat and demonstrated a stronger view of
kindness.
The most significant change I made from my first draft to my final poem was completely
changing themes and writing a new poem. Around the time the second draft was due, I had an

idea for a new poem. I decided to run with it, and ended up composing a whole new poem. I kept
my topic the same, yet wholly changed the message and presentation of my ideas. In the first
draft, it was a free-verse poem with a few themes thrown around, yet not particularly polished.
The first stanza from this draft was, There is something / about a smile / luminous and
carefree. While these lines do sound nice, I intended for this poems theme to be kindness.
When we held peer critiques in class, my peers stated that the main message that they received
was about smiling, yet this was not the idea that I wanted to convey. I feel that adding the
metaphor to my poem improved the communication of my intended message. The final draft of
my poem is focused entirely on kindness and its different aspects. It is still free-verse, yet the
stanzas are more connected and they uphold an extended metaphor. I think that the use of this
comparative poetic device creates an interesting, thought-provoking theme. The first stanza of
my final poem is, What if / Kindness was currency. This poem continues to discuss and
explore the idea introduced in the first few lines. The changes of theme and topic from my first
draft to my final draft enhance the intellectual message of the poem in the sense that the ideas
presented cause the reader to reflect on kindness and money. I think my poem introduces an idea
that one could ponder for a while. The emotional message of my poem is improved because the
final drafts overall meaning and quality allows more readers to connect with and understand my
message.
The second most impactful change I made while editing and revising my poem involved
tone. My first draft had a reserved, simple tone. It was positive, yet unexciting. Looking back,
the tone seems like it is trying too hard. I think that this tone is especially evident in the fourth
stanza, When someone is kind, truly kind / There is a spark, a firework over a dark landscape /
A lively flower blooming under grey skies / Kindness brings effervescence to dull days. This
sounds nice, yet seems too cheesy. In the third stanza, the tone shifts from the former and latter
stanzas, and becomes slightly more negative and sinister. But its not just the smile / Because
smiles can be plastered on, like messy, peeling stickers, / Hiding contempt and sadness / Smiles
can be unlikely, your mind forcing your face into that upward facing half moon because you
know / its what people want to see / Smiles can be insincere. I think that this draft of my poem
did use tone well, yet it was not unified with the message that I wanted to convey. My final draft
has a more developed tone. It is more optimistic, yet sort of edgy. It seems to convey a sort of
warning regarding our disproportionate affection for money. If kindness was currency, / We
would share smiles, / Luminous and carefree / Warmth, generosity, friendliness, affection, love. /
We could spread our folded, cobwebbed wings, people would thrive / We could seek our dreams
instead of the job that pays the most / Our lives could have meaning / All / Through / Kindness.
To me, these stanzas convey an encouraging, awe-inspiring tone. From my first draft to my final
draft, the tone has become more meaningful. This change has not had a major effect on the
intellectual message of the poem, yet I feel that it conveys more emotion and allows the reader to
be more emotionally connected. Overall, the tone development in my final draft has improved
my poem because it is more sincere and relatable.